Pekin Duckling Limp/Crooked Foot

[natem1270]

As requested here is a picture of Moose's leg @Duckfarmer1

I bought the B12 and added it to their communal water. Ideally I would split the pen and give Moose his own medicated water... but our coop is currently split in half to separate the adults/teenagers. For this reason I think I'm going to give him his supplement directly in a dropper starting tomorrow. I have had to give my cockatiel a dropper before so I'm comfortable doing it for him as well. If someone could iron out how much/when I should be feeding them it would be greatly appreciated. I have a strong feeling I'm overfeeding and don't want that to add to Moose's issue.

 

[Miss Lydia]

You have liquid B complex right? I free feed all my birds from time I let them out till I put them to bed. But I don’t have Pekins so hopefully someone who does will give feeding advise. @quackiemama @Jpat

 

[Duckfarmer1]

Ok, about the feeding, they are always going to want more....I feed my birds twice a day, not free feed, like a lot of people do. You have to play around with it. Some days they need more, due to activity. Honestly...his leg looks like a lot of my pekins do...it’s just the nature of the beast. Unfortunately, the breed was meant as a meat bird, however, I find them to be wonderful and playful, with the best personality. I would give less if you can. How many do you have? What type of feeder do you use? I’ve used so many different feeders. Because I feed them twice a day,.,it’s not a feeder that allows them to eat all night...so they can’t overendulge. I’ve found that ducks will just eat and eat and eat...that’s not for pekins. So I put a few cups in at morning, and a few cups at night. Depending on number of ducks. Typically there will be some crumbles left over...but I don’t really want that... in the fall I had a group of 14 pekin ducklings...they are now only 22 weeks and most are completely full sized as the ones I’ve had since spring.

 

[Jpat]

You have liquid B complex right? I free feed all my birds from time I let them out till I put them to bed. But I don’t have Pekins so hopefully someone who does will give feeding advise. @quackiemama @Jpat

Same!
@Duckfarmer1 has a good system there too

 

[natem1270]

Ok, about the feeding, they are always going to want more....I feed my birds twice a day, not free feed, like a lot of people do. You have to play around with it. Some days they need more, due to activity. Honestly...his leg looks like a lot of my pekins do...it’s just the nature of the beast. Unfortunately, the breed was meant as a meat bird, however, I find them to be wonderful and playful, with the best personality. I would give less if you can. How many do you have? What type of feeder do you use? I’ve used so many different feeders. Because I feed them twice a day,.,it’s not a feeder that allows them to eat all night...so they can’t overendulge. I’ve found that ducks will just eat and eat and eat...that’s not for pekins. So I put a few cups in at morning, and a few cups at night. Depending on number of ducks. Typically there will be some crumbles left over...but I don’t really want that... in the fall I had a group of 14 pekin ducklings...they are now only 22 weeks and most are completely full sized as the ones I’ve had since spring.

I appreciate the answer. I will start to limit their feeding more actively. I was part of the free feed group up to this point. I have three Pekins and another group of three (Rouen, Khaki, Saxony mix... maybe?). They are currently in different parts of the coop so they are fed differently. I have two metal troughs that they are fed out of.

 

[natem1270]

Any ducks you have over 6 weeks don’t need food an water over night and Pekins are notorious for over eating. And you def want to watch their weight. Do your free range or are they penned all the time? Exercise is really good for all our birds not running but just getting out swimming and foraging around.

Sadly my ducks do not free range. They have a covered outdoor pen that is 16x8 with a pool (expanding to 16x16) in the spring. These three Pekins were supposed to be delivered in April but a shipping mishap brought them to me in early December.... so they have been forced to grow up mostly inside. It's been really warm here in RI so they have been getting outdoors a little bit... but not too much.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Hopefully the liquid B complex will help a lot, it's very common for Pekins to have leg problems they grow so fast for slaughter. Which is pretty sad because so many love them for pets. But I really think getting them started on the B complex will help a lot. Having swimming water is great exercise. It helps take the weight off of stressed muscles and helps build strength. So your the one that got Winter ducklings instead of spring ducklings. Thankfully your weather was nice enough they even made it through shipping! Keep us update on them.

 

[Miss Lydia]

@natem1270 were you able to get the liquid B complex?

 

[natem1270]

@natem1270 were you able to get the liquid B complex?

Sorry for the late reply, but yes. They've been on it for about a week now.

 

[quackiemama]

I am so sorry I never saw where I got tagged on the 14th. That was hubby's birthday. I agree with the others. I am learning the hard way about these pekins and their appetites. My ladies are FAT so I am having to slow down on the feeding. They will NEVER stop eating! This one is dragging her bum on the ground that is how overweight she is. I also use Nutritional Yeast on their food regularly to give them the extra B vitamins!